Art Buddies at Artiscape 2010

It was the first time that Bev, Margaret, Mary, and I went to Artiscape in Ohio. Maggi and Barbara had attended this art retreat 2 other times. It has always been in April and always in Ohio. The retreat is organized by European Papers and this year it was held in Columbus, Ohio.
We didn't want to eat in the restaurant that was housed in the Holiday Inn where we were staying so we walked to Donato's, a pizza and sandwich place, that was about 7 blocks from the hotel. It was a little chilly that day, but it felt good to be out and about.
At this point Bev, Mary, and Maggi are in the lead.



It is our first day of class!!! Most classes were held somewhere in the hotel, but there were 2 off site locations. One of them was this art studio belonging to Amy Flowers. It is more like a garage that was converted to her studio. Everywhere you looked there was art... or art supplies. What a great place to have a class!!


Look closely to see Amy Flowers, our instructor. She is to the right, just beyond Mary's head, walking out of my view as I snap the picture. Four of us were together in this class: Barbara, Maggi, Mary, and I. We loved Amy's personality. It was a wonderful class... little did we know that classes would just keep getting better.









I had my camera with me the whole weekend, so why is it I kept forgetting to take pictures of us??? Here we are in the bar of the Holiday Inn. It is Sunday night, we are 'brain dead' from all of our classes and too tired to venture out for dinner.





So we sat in the bar, had drinks, and ordered appetizers. It was the best plan!!! Most people had left and we were able to talk and laugh, and drink!!!
It was a GREAT retreat, except for two things:
1) We missed Pea and Carol Sweeney and kept wishing they were with us!!
2) The Holiday Inn was VERY poorly managed... not enough staff to properly deal with the art retreat and poorly managed food service.

Bev says.... It is time we 'Wisconsinites' travel to California!

The retreat was over and it was our last day together.... Monday, April19. Barbara, Maggi, Mary, and I were flying out at 4:30. Both Bev and Margaret had rental cars and weren't flying out until Tuesday so we spent the day together. After checking out of the hotel we drove to Dick Blick Art supplies. We didn't buy much since we didn't know how close our luggage was to the 50 lb limit!!!!. This shopping area was fabulous!!! Not only was there a Dick Blick, but also a Hobby Lobby, Jo Ann's, Michael's, and more!!! We only went to Dick Blick and Hobby Lobby and then took a break for lunch at Panera's. After Panera's we stopped at a Big Lots and then it was off to the airport. It was sad to say goodbye to our California friends.